December 20, 2012

The blizzard is scheduled to arrive later this morning. This was the pre-blizzard.

I love the way the snow plow deposited a special huge snow boulder right at the end of our driveway. We — meaning Meade — need to get that out of the way before the real storm comes. The storm has a name: Draco. When did winter storms start getting names? And why Draco?

What do you think of when you read the name, "Draco?" Do you picture a dragon because you studied Latin? Or do you jump to Greece because you are an historian? Or do you turn to law because Draco was the first "lawgiver?" Or do you combine all three reasons and pop right to "Draconian?"

The weatherfolk probably had fun naming the first, named blizzard. Why did they skip the alphabetical process used for hurricanes?

We — meaning Meade — need to get that out of the way before the real storm comes.

I protest this obvious pandering to outdated gender roles. Get out there and shovel like a man, perfesser! Do it for the children!

Your weather arrives in the East a coupla days later. I'm getting in a new pellet stove. Old one died after 18 years of service.

Once winter really sets in, woodshedding season begins for musicians. Got a New Year's Eve gig, and then the Old Dawgz will be settling in to record their first full CD. We're gonna do it at home on my new Zoom R24! The new home recording studios are amazing.

It's "derecho," with the "ch" pronounced like a "k." You midwesterners sent one to the mid-Atlantic states last June. It's like a hurricane except (1) forms over land, not warm water, and (2) moves west to east, not east to west the way hurricanes do. The one that hit us last June had 79 mph winds recorded in my town at the storm's peak, and there was a claim that some areas of Virginia had gusts to 100.

It's simultaneous with me, the constellation Draco and the kid from the Harry Potter series.

Years ago I had a neighbor couple who owned a dog named Brandeis. (The guy was a law school student.) I asked them if they named their dog after the school or the judge. At first they just kind of stared at me. ' It's the same name,' they finally said. I replied I knew that, but I meant - did they meet at Brandeis hence that was the source of the name, or was it directly from the judge since the guy was a law student.

Our rather chilly morning (frost on the grass!), named "John", will give way to a nice sunny afternoon and cool evening. Local weathermen have yet to give this once-in-a-day event a formal name yet, depending on whether they can get the C-130 weather tracker to do a flyover before the 6PM news.

There are more than two possibilities for who should move the snow. Get a long pole, poke a hole in the snow mass, and stick some kind of doggy treat inside, and maybe you can get Zeus and and his friends (the dogs, not the gods) to rip the whole snow-mass apart. If they get to the treat before they finish the job, insert another treat in the largest remaining hunk of snow and repeat the process.

@MadMan, I'm just telling you how the weather reporters on local TV stations pronounced it.

You damnyankees (all one word) keep thinkin' us Virginians don't know proper English. Us Virginians was speakin' the Queen's English back in the 17th century when Wisconsin had nobody livin' there that wasn't a Sioux, Chippewa, Potawatomi, or Winnebago. And I don't mean no RVs, neither.

I am happily watching your consternation from my oldest daughters kitchen table a mile from the beach in So. Cal.It's about 44F right now with a high of 60F.Think I'll take a walk down to the beach because there is NO SNOW.

You can say, "We — meaning Meade", and then talk about feminism, or is this like most feminists - I want equality when it will do me some good, but i turn into a girl when the windows in my car have to be rolled up and I ask some man to do it because I don't want to get my hair wet?